A decade ago, Bitcoin and Ethereum lingered on the fringes of finance, curiosities traded by hobbyists and techno-utopians. Today, their combined market value stretches into the trillions of dollars, and their ascent has ignited a fresh argument. Will digital tokens replace traditional assets or simply sit beside them? 

Signs of displacement are hard to miss. Young and tech-savvy savers, who grew up doubting banks and questioning financial orthodoxy, now funnel much of their extra cash not into blue-chip stocks or municipal bonds but into coins and tokens that can soar, or crash, in a single day.